Going Through Hell
by t.j.guard
Summary: Set after an AU ending of Battle of the Smithsonian. Kahmunrah won the fight and the right to extend his reach across the world, but though he doesn't realize it yet, he got a lot more than he bargained for.
1. Prologue

Going Through Hell

Disclaimer: I don't own Night at the Museum or the characters therein.

A/N: Set after an alternate ending to Battle of the Smithsonian.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prologue

He turned away from the mirror to the upper world. Kahmunrah's victory was never supposed to happen, but it did, and now the only apparent solution was to wage another war against him, one that was certain to determine the victor. Whether those on the upper world had the time, energy, or other resources was another matter entirely, though.

But, he thought, there was another hope. The one they called the Likeness of the Sun God.

Ahkmenrah.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Ahkmenrah paced back and forth across Larry's small apartment. It had been a week since the exhibits breathed life again, and given the tablet's absence, he was immediately certain that it couldn't mean anything good. When he heard Larry's account of the botched rescue and fight in Smithsonian Castle, the fact that it was his brother failed to surprise him. Now all that was left was to wait in this little apartment for Amelia's arrival; she regularly came with other exhibits from the Smithsonian Complex and news as to the current situation.

He smiled. There had been some talk, one of Jedediah's men said, that Ivan, Al, and Napoleon were starting to get antsy since Kahmunrah started to rely more and more heavily on his bird-headed soldiers from the underworld. That was something he and his allies could exploit.

But the true prize was the tablet. Dexter had taken it, not without Ahkmenrah's blessing, because he knew what life meant to the exhibits, and he may have been intuitive, that it just might help Larry come around, or lead him to his brother. And it seemed to be doing those two things exactly, save for the end of the fight. Ahkmenrah owed almost everything to that monkey, certainly a lot more than the fig Dexter recieved as a reward for his efforts.

Someone knocked on the door, and he reached for a khopesh from the basement of the Natural History Museum before answering. He held the blade into the throat of a plump young man in a uniform indicating that he was with the Smithsonian down in D.C. "Whoa, hey," he said. Ahkmenrah said something in Egyptian. "What?"

"I believe the rough English equivalent is 'Name, rank, and serial number.'"

"Oh, uh...Brunden, a security guard, not necessarily numbered."

Ahkmenrah pulled the blade back. "These are troubling times. I'm sure you understand."

"Actually, not really."

"So what are you doing here?"

"Looking for answers. I was told this would be a safe place."

"It is, if you're not a spy."

"Spy for who?"

Ahkmenrah gave Brunden a long searching look and weighed the khopesh in his hand. Brunden couldn't help but look at it. "Is it safe to assume you value your life?" The guard nodded. Ahkmenrah stepped aside and tilted the sword as a gesture permitting entrance. Brunden obeyed unquestioningly. "You said you were seeking answers?"

"Yeah, like, why are all the exhibits in the museum moving around?"

"You know, normally they aren't supposed to do that, especially during the day."

"Uh, duh."

"No, I mean, if not for the magic of the tablet, they would only be alive from dusk to dawn wherever the tablet resides."

"Tablet?"

"My tablet. It has a magical power that brings all the exhibits to life." Brunden nodded mutely. "Does that answer your question adequately?"

The guard nodded again. "That's the most normal thing I've heard of this week."

"What's weirder than that?"

"Those bird-headed guys aren't in costume. That's a real bird head on a real human body."

"And how, dare I ask, did you come by this information?"

"They aren't gonna follow me here? I mean, they don't know I'm here?"

"They're after you?" Brunden nodded again, vigorously. "I wouldn't know."

"I, that guy I met the day before, he..."

"I assume, if we're thinking of the same man, that he helped you out."

"Killed one of 'em, by snapping its freakish neck."

"Well, I certainly agree with your assessment, and the man to whom you refer is Larry Daley. He remembers his fighting skills quite well, it sounds like."

"What?"

"We at the museum have been teaching him how to fight, or we used to, back when he worked there."

"Well, explains how he did it, and how he's not freaking out the fact that everything in the museum is up and moving."

"What took you so long in getting here, then?"

"Mostly running from them."

"My advice? Keep running. You should be able to get as far as Poughkeepsie. If you see Theodore Roosevelt, tell him Ahkmenrah sent you."

"Wait, did you say Theodore Roosevelt?"

"You're going to need to get used to hearing a lot of famous names and seeing a lot of famous faces. Now go, before they get wind that you were here." Brunden all but fled the apartment. Ahkmenrah returned the khopesh to its resting place on a table next to the door.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Many of the exhibits and personnel fleeing the Smithsonian had been referred to Poughkeepsie at some point along the line. After all, Lawrence had ensured that it would be, in his words, NHM's safest safe house. It was therefore Theodore Roosevelt's job to keep it that way, with the aid of Sacagawea, one General Custer, and a small army of miniatures (mostly Sacagawea and the miniatures). So it came as no surprise to him that a heavyset man in a guard's uniform came to him saying Ahkmenrah had sent him.

"So he's still alive and well," Teddy said.

"Yeah. Why...why shouldn't he be?"

"These are tough times."

"Yeah, I know that."

"Well, the reasons for fears of his well-being are his business. I am not privy to discuss them."

"Oh."

"I'd like to introduce you to some Huns, and don't worry, they're reasonably harmless."

"Reasonably?"

"They've come around. This way please." Teddy led Brunden down a hall.

NATM

Larry groaned and shifted his position. He should've been feeling better by now, with or without the tablet's help, unless he was getting the crap kicked out of him while he was unconscious, or he was literally kicking himself for giving up the opportunity to get rid of Kahmunrah for good, but since he seriously doubted the latter scenario, he had good reason to think other forces were at work, physical or otherwise.

Wings fluttered in the basement. He turned his head to the door of the crate, and his eyes widened when it unlocked and opened of its own accord and a falcon with a flashlight in its beak landed next to him. The falcon dropped the flashlight and stepped back. "Oh, I'm supposed to take it," Larry slurred, reaching for the torch. He immediately had the sense that the falcon knew he was in trouble. "Are you putting thoughts in my head? If you are, it's actually one of the more normal things to happen lately." The falcon squawked. "Okay, okay." He picked up the flashlight and slipped it into the loop at his belt, and then he worked his way to his feet, or tried to but didn't get much farther than his knees before crumpling and falling to the floor. "What the hell happened to me?"

"He's using the tablet to perpetuate your pain. You should've recovered days ago," the falcon said. Larry jerked back with a cry. "I swear, everywhere I go people think I'm a dumb animal." Larry blinked. "Get up." He struggled to comply. "You should work on distancing yourself from the tablet. It will serve you well, here and in the future." He nodded, remembering Cecil, Gus, and Reginald, and he stood. The falcon gave an approving nod and flew out of the crate.

Larry followed the falcon, keeping his thoughts focused on where it led him and next to nothing else, but something squawked behind him. Dammit, he thought, turning on the birdman approaching him. He struck the birdman across the temple and wrenched the spear out of his hands. The last thing Kahmunrah's dutiful soldier saw was an unfamiliar night guard driving his own weapon through his chest.

But no sooner had Larry removed the spear than he saw a good dozen more birdmen coming after him. He gave himself an even stronger curse word.

The falcon stopped and turned to face the scene. Idiot, he said to himself. But more experienced gods than himself had always told him during his formative years that humans had to be allowed to make their own mistakes. But could he really expect a night guard who was trying to recover from Kahmunrah's meddling to be able to hold off the squad of armed birdman soldiers? Not realistically, but this was the same man who succeeded in tearing his head off, and he had to say, he was very impressed.

But twelve men against one wasn't a good set of odds for anyone, even him.

Larry had engaged in the fight anyway, and he was holding his own pretty decently under the circumstances, but he was starting to tire, and the birdmen just kept coming. But before one could close in for what could easily have been a killing blow, it let out a squawk and collapsed. Several others were soon to follow. "We ain't gettin' passed over for a bunch of bird-headed freaks," Al Capone said, resting his Tommy gun on his shoulder.

Larry nodded and managed, "Thanks."

"You better hurry if you wanna get out of here alive. Exit's that way." Al pointed. "Hang a louie at the fire exit, go downstairs, pull a richie, take the dumbwaiter up, go out through the garage, and you're home free."

"Thanks," Larry said again, and he booked it in the direction Al had indicated.

Interesting turn of events, the falcon thought, following him with his eyes.

NATM

Larry emerged from the garage and looked around. On one side of him, far along the sidewalk, was a birdman sentry. He turned and walked in the other direction.

He'd need to reach Ahkmenrah, the only person he could think of who knew anything about talking falcons, but he'd also have to stay alive, and he couldn't risk jeopardizing the young pharaoh's life. He was, after all, a guard.

He spotted a warehouse, rushed inside, and bolted the door behind him.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Ahkmenrah leaned against the window sill and stared at the street below, at the people going about their daily lives. No one seemed to care that the museum was empty. Granted, no one seemed to care about museums in general. His friends being shipped off to D.C. in the first place was proof enough of that. He exhaled and then watched the fog formed by his breath fade into nothing on the glass.

The phone rang, and he jumped and screamed. Someone gave a muffled response. Ahkmenrah looked at the phone and picked it up, turning it over in his hands several times, until it stopped ringing. Then the ringing started again, and he pressed the red button on accident. After another moment, the phone came to life yet again. Ahkmenrah tried the green button this time. "Hello?" Larry asked.

"Sorry," Ahkmenrah replied. "I don't know what I'm doing."

"You're smart. You figured it out."

"Thank you."

"So, um, I need a little help."

"How do you mean?"

"Do you know anything about talking falcons?"

"The falcon is a representation of Heru, or, as you know him, Horus. Was he helpful to you?"

"Uh, yeah. He brought me back my flashlight and got me out of the crate."

Ahkmenrah rubbed his eyes. "Horus guards the royal family. Kahmunrah must have really done something contrary to _ma'at_, or Horus might not be so helpful, unless there's something to be done in the long run."

"Wait, _ma'at_?"

"Truth, order, justice."

"So, what's going on?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but whatever it is, the gods are paying attention."

"Is that good or bad."

"I have no idea. Did the falcon say anything else to you?"

"Not really...Oh, he said something about Kahmunrah using the tablet to stall my healing process and that I could be detached from it."

"I gather you managed it."

"Yeah."

"That's good. I've been a little worried about you."

"Are, uh, are you doin' alright?"

"We're holding out well enough."

Larry paused and said, "I know this is your brother." Ahkmenrah exhaled heavily. "What's up?"

"Nothing. I'm...I'm fine."

"Are you?"

"Yes."

"You sound like you're barely holding together. If you wanna talk-"

"Larry, please."

"Right. Sorry."

"It's alright."

"I'll be on my way up as soon as Amelia's up again."

"You mean she's been grounded?"

"I haven't seen her, but I've been otherwise engaged for the past week."

"Kept prisoner and magically tortured."

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure she's doing alright, but I don't know, and the Castle's surrounded. I don't know how many chances I can take. They already know I busted out, and they know Al Capone helped me out. I don't know what that's gonna do for his standing with Kahmunrah, but I can tell it won't be good."

"Larry, that may be the last time you see Capone, unless you return the favor."

"'Kay. Look, I gotta go. I'm calling from a payphone outside of a Seven-Eleven."

"What's a payphone? Sorry. I'll ask later."

"'Kay. Stay safe."

"You, too." Larry hung up, and Ahkmenrah, still a little unsure as to what to do, lay the phone down next to where he had picked it up from. He reached for the khopesh and turned a chair so that he could sit facing the door but still able to listen for any sounds from the window.

NATM

Larry put the phone back in its cradle and made his way down the street. He couldn't help but try to assess his situation, which for some reason also included the suit he was almost certainly going to be involved in with Wal-Mart and the other Daley Devices execs. Then he had to figure out what to do about the exhibits after the fight was over and Kahmunrah was dealt with.

But before all of that, he had to stay alive, and that was going to be some very difficult going. And he had a favor to return, if, of course, Al was in any immediate danger. But with a castle surrounded by birdmen and a tunnel system he had no idea how to navigate, his odds of a potential rescue effort looked bleak.

NATM

Al, Ivan, and Napoleon walked through the maze of crates as if making their usual rounds, but all three had their eyes out for potential allies and hiding places. "You think this will work?" Ivan asked Al in a low voice.

"Quiet," Al snapped. "Walls got ears." All three of them fell into an unsettled silence, but it wasn't to last, for not soon after, a bundle of white bandages tumbled from the rafters, dangling by only one. Three very seasoned men all shot back and cried out. The mummy, for it was obvious the bundle was shaped like a body, swung back and forth, and then the bandage suspending it gave. With a heavy thump, the body hit the floor.

Gingerly, the men inched toward the corpse. Napoleon drew his knife and started to cut away at the bandages around the body's face. Ivan and Al held their weapons ready. Napoleon pulled away the bandages and then stumbled back. Ivan and Al gasped. "_Mon Dieu_," Napoleon whispered, staring at the face of a recently deceased man, his dagger clenched in his trembling hand.

The man in the bandages was of the same complexion as Kahmunrah, but his face was severely burn-scarred, such that he was missing his nose and half his lips.

His eyes opened.

The men fled the basement.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Al, Ivan, and Napoleon reached Kahmunrah's chambers and started panting to the point of incoherence. Kahmunrah watched them curiously. Ivan started to speak, but at the same time, he also started to panic. Al punched him across the face and said, "Breathe, man."

"What on earth is going on?" Kahmunrah finally asked.

"There's a dead-not-dead guy in the basement."

Kahmunrah creased his brow. "Show me."

"Yeah, sure." He took his leave, followed closely by Kahmunrah.

NATM

"Impossible," Al said, staring at the pile of bandages Kahmunrah knelt beside and was examining. "He...he..."

"What is the meaning of this, Mr. Capone?" Kahmunrah asked flatly, looking over his shoulder at the gangster.

"There was a dead guy! And...and he opened his eyes..."

"So I'm to assume he just walked off."

"Yeah. Maybe the tablet did it."

"I would have known about this sooner, Capone." Al burst into incoherent babbling. Kahmunrah picked up the pile of bandages and pushed them into his arms. "Get a hold of yourself." With that, he walked off. Al glanced at the bandages and then flung them to the ground.

Kahmunrah thought he'd handled that pretty well, considering.

NATM

Larry spotted the Vega preparing to land on a strip of land next to the warehouse where Larry had spent some time hiding, and the night guard in question ran over to Amelia as she slowed the plane to a stop and hopped out. "Oh, he let you go," she said.

"Actually, I escaped," Larry replied. "Al Capone helped. And there was a talking falcon."

"I'm no expert on talking birds, Mr. Daley, but why would Mr. Capone want to help you?"

"He told me he wasn't getting passed over for a bunch of bird-headed freaks, his words, not mine, though we do agree."

"Now, tell me more about this bird."

"Well, I talked to a buddy of mine in New York. He didn't say the bird was good or bad, just...watching. Or something."

"What sort of 'or something'?"

"I don't know."

"So what do you know?"

"Not much, really. Smithsonian Castle's on lockdown."

"Anything else?"

"Not that I know of."

"Well, it's only been a week, and word on the street is the internal structure is close to collapse," she said in a low voice with a sly smile. "But I guess the rumors are true, based on what Mr. Capone said to you."

"You know what? I think you're on to something. The house can still be divided." He turned to the warehouse but stopped cold.

"What is it?"

"Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

He paused, then said, "That."

"What are you talking about?" She knit her brow and started to look around when the hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention. "That?"

"That."

She turned to face the Castle and then stumbled back. Emerging from the earth itself was a man in a tattered robe. "Larry," she gasped. He turned, and his eyes widened.

"Oh, my God," he said.

NATM

A premonition awoke Ahkmenrah from a doze, and at first, in some degree of dazed confusion, he spun about himself, the khopesh out and at the ready. When he recovered himself, he relaxed just enough to kick himself for acting so insane, and he looked around the apartment. He could use the phone again, but he realized he didn't know enough about it to pull it off successfully, let alone where the safe house was and how it could be reached.

But the written word was all but infallible. He found a sticky note and something to pass for a stylus in a drawer next to the sink, scrawled 'In Poughkeepsie' on it in his best English, and affixed it to the door. Then he raided Larry's closet for a change of clothes and something to store his belongings in.

Here he paused. He heard from Larry that security was tight where he was going, and he likely wasn't going to get anywhere with a khopesh, decorative or not. So how was he going to get where he needed to go?

Then it hit him. "Of course," he said, and as soon as he left the apartment complex, he set a course for the museum.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"Who're you?" McPhee asked, looking from the file he was reading to Ahkmenrah, standing before his desk with a face as expressionless as a statue. "What, you're...you're, like, some kind of costumer? Traveling freak?"

"I'm no freak," Ahkmenrah replied, and then he gave McPhee the same elaborate introduction he gave Larry once released from his prison-sarcophagus.

McPhee laughed. "You expect me to believe you're some...centuries-old Egyptian pharaoh come back from the dead thanks to a...trinket?"

"Tablet, and yes, I expect you to believe all that. It's the only explanation for how Rexy could've left."

"Rexy?"

"Your Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton out front. In case you haven't noticed, he's missing."

McPhee shook his head and sighed. "I can't believe this."

"You will."

He looked up again. "Why?"

"Because the mission I require your assistance with may provide you the proof necessary for you to believe what I've said."

NATM

"Yes, but what I'm asking is if you have room for one more exhibit to go into storage," McPhee said to the woman on the phone. He'd been in contact with her before in connection to his museum. Unbeknownst to her, the exhibit in question was standing right outside his office, listening in.

"Why didn't you say so?" the woman asked. "We have room for everything."

"Thank you."

"If you're short of funds, we can arrange the pick-up."

"Actually, I've made other arrangements in that regard. Thank you." Ahkmenrah smiled. My evil plan is working, he thought.

When McPhee hung up, Ahkmenrah appeared in the doorway and said, "Suppose I should bring a change of clothes."

"God knows you can't be seen in that outlandish thing. Now come on. We have a truck to get ready."

NATM

Ahkmenrah had arranged his clothes in the sarcophagus, more for convenience than anything else, and lounged on top of them in a pair of Larry's sweatpants and one of his tee shirts. The khopesh rested across his stomach for want of something to do with it and so he could keep an eye on it, though with McPhee driving, he doubted there would be any problems.

At some point during the drive, he realized what he was heading into, in the van of the director of the Museum of Natural History. His brother, who would very much like to see him dead.

The premonition struck him again. He gripped the edges of his sarcophagus as the sensation of abject terror washed over him. This wasn't caused by his brother. He knew that instinctively. This was much worse. Ahkmenrah gripped his sarcophagus until his arms shook, though he only numbly realized it. Gradually, he gained enough control over himself to loosen his grip, and he pulled his arms into his chest. The sensation of terror passed, and he relaxed against the lip of his sarcophagus.

He smirked, suddenly thinking that McPhee was now wondering what the hell he got talked into. Ahkmenrah couldn't blame him. He himself could hardly believe this stupid plan of his worked, so who was he to assume McPhee wouldn't think this a fool's errand? If he didn't know any better or feel compelled to carry this out, he would certainly have thought the same.

But he had to carry it out. He had no choice, or none that the premonitions of immense terror gave him. He had to go to Washington, D.C., track down whatever was causing this trouble, and figure out what to do about his brother along the way.

NATM

With some help from McPhee, Ahkmenrah was able to pass himself off as a teenager under temporary employ and in need of some extra cash. They left the reasons for the extra cash up to the imaginations of the movers at the Smithsonian, but in the end, it was enough to get Ahkmenrah and McPhee in the door, albeit no further.

"Balloon dog?" McPhee asked, pointing to the red balloon animal floating near the ceiling, trying to walk.

"Can you make a robot like that, director?" Ahkmenrah asked in reply. McPhee gaped, and the young pharaoh pulled on his upper arm. "Come on." They walked down a hall and turned a corner into one of the main entry halls. Then he pulled the director behind a column and clamped a hand over his mouth. McPhee gasped, suddenly noticing the two hawk-headed men standing watch over the Gate of Kahmunrah. Ahkmenrah pressed him deeper into the shadows. One of the birdmen glanced their way but shook his head and seemed to think nothing of it.

The birdman glanced their way again and walked over. Ahkmenrah tensed, and McPhee broke into a cold sweat. The birdman stopped and turned to face them, but when Ahkmenrah met his gaze, he relaxed. "It's okay," he whispered to McPhee. "He's reasonably safe. Just don't make any sudden movements or sounds lest the other one find us." Gingerly, he released his grip on the director's mouth. McPhee was now reduced to staring at the birdman. "He's, um, new to...what happens," Ahkmenrah explained to the birdman, in a tongue they both understood.

The birdman nodded. "It's nice to know you're still careful," he replied.

"He speaks?" McPhee asked. "Do they all do that?"

"Just me," the birdman said in English. "At least, coherently. The others will squawk occasionally." To Ahkmenrah specifically, he said, again in Egyptian, "You should check on your friend the night guard." Ahkmenrah nodded, and the birdman walked back to his position, giving a squawk to his companion that seemed to keep the latter in his place.

"Now what?" McPhee asked.

"I should assume we go find Larry," Ahkmenrah replied.

"How do we get out of here?"

"We walk out."

"How?"

"Look natural, like any other pair of patrons. In your case just walk out as you are, since you're normally this frazzled about everything." McPhee looked at the birdmen, nodded, and walked back to the door. From there, he proceeded at his usual rhythm through the lobby. Ahkmenrah took a deep, silent breath, buried his hands in the pockets of Larry's sweatpants, and forced himself to walk like a normal human being.

NATM

Ahkmenrah reached the landing and immediately noticed that Kahmunrah was engaged in an intimidation campaign against McPhee, asking about his whereabouts. They were surrounded by what had to be half a dozen birdmen, some aiming spears at McPhee's throat. Two noticed him and approached, spears at the ready. Ahkmenrah grabbed one of the weapons, kicked its owner into a bush, and turned on the other. They traded blows. Kahmunrah pushed the director into the nearest birdman and turned to the fight going on on the steps of Smithsonian Castle.

Ahkmenrah had disabled this opponent and turned on the one he felt behind him. The spear clashed with the blue and gold khopesh wielded by Kahmunrah. Kahmunrah gave a sly smile. "Baby brother," he said slowly.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Larry had succeeded in pulling Amelia into the warehouse and slamming the door shut before the figure could reach the spot where they had once stood. "What is that thing?" Amelia asked.

"I don't know," Larry replied, "but somebody wanted him gone."

"How do you know that?"

"See how badly burned his face is?"

"That could be anything."

"In the ancient Egyptian tradition, if you destroy the face and name of a person, you're effectively destroying their soul and any chances of an afterlife. The fact that the guy's burned likely means that the body was likely burned, which means that if somebody went to that kind of trouble, they wanted him gone for good."

"Are you sure he's even ancient Egyptian?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"So what's the plan, ace?"

"Right now? Stay alive."

NATM

Kahmunrah forced his brother into a lower position on the steps and smirked. Ahkmenrah kicked his brother's legs out from under him and pressed the tip of the spear to his neck. "Higher ground does not always equate to advantage," he said. Kahmunrah kicked Ahkmenrah in the leg and shot to his feet. They traded two blows before Ahkmenrah twisted Kahmunrah's khopesh out of his hands and threw it behind him and into the Reflecting Pool. Kahmunrah glanced down at himself, then at his brother, and then at a birdman, whom he immediately disarmed.

The birdman was obviously less than pleased, and in a fit of rage, he rushed his leader from behind and tried to tackle him to the ground. Ahkmenrah hesitated, but pulled McPhee out of the fray and down a sidewalk. He urged the director to find shelter, and his gaze drifted around for any sign of anything useful or anyone dangerous. He spotted both, the former in the form of a warehouse and the latter in the badly burned visage that he thought he'd never see again.

He sank into a fighting crouch and narrowed his eyes, and he inched his way toward the warehouse.

The figure turned to face him. Ahkmenrah froze, save to wince at the sight of him, but his eye was attracted by a movement to his side. He turned so as to best see both of his opponents, and he noticed that Kahmunrah had managed to fight his way out of the internal conflict that ensued when he disarmed one of his own men. "You think you're so clever," Kahmunrah snarled.

"Actually that was your fault," Ahkmenrah replied. "And, admittedly, theirs, but I won't bring it up with them. Quite frankly, we really don't have the time." He glanced at the man, who was watching their exchange intently. Ahkmenrah suddenly had the sense that he was in the throes of a great moment in history in the making.

"Because you can do no wrong." Kahmunrah started to approach his brother.

"I didn't do much of anything, except defend myself and my companion."

"That oaf? What is he to you?"

"The reason I still have a home somewhere. I'd love to explain it to you, but I doubt you'd deign to listen to me." He stole another glance. The man had moved closer to them, still watching with an unnerving degree of interest. "Someone is, though," he said. Kahmunrah finally looked to his side, and he started upon seeing who was there.

Now both brothers faced the man, who looked alternately at each of them. Ahkmenrah looked askance at his brother, narrowing his eyes slightly, and then returned his attention to the man. Kahmunrah stepped back. The man flicked his wrist. Ahkmenrah pulled his brother out of the path of roots springing up from the ground. The brothers ran toward the warehouse, with the roots in pursuit, and Ahkmenrah wrenched the door open for just long enough to allow them entry. Then he slammed the door shut and braced himself against it.

"Take it you saw Freakshow, too," Larry said. Kahmunrah moved toward him, but Ahkmenrah stopped him.

"Yes, we did," he said. "He has magical powers." Roots scraped against the walls of the warehouse. "He's sealing us in."

"So what do we do?"

"Do you have any ideas?"

The man appeared behind Larry and Amelia. Ahkmenrah started and pressed his back into the door. Larry and Amelia turned, and they started and stepped back. "We're going to die," Ahkmenrah whispered in Egyptian. "In a warehouse. All four of us. Mummified alive." Kahmunrah clenched his fists, and when Ahkmenrah glanced at him, he was very, very pale.

The man moved. Amelia pushed Larry aside and to the floor. Kahmunrah gasped and groped the wall for purchase as he floated up to the ceiling. Ahkmenrah tightened his grip on the spear and then took aim. Bandages flew from some undefined point of origin and started to wrap around Kahmunrah's limbs, forcibly arranging them so that he resembled a mummy. Ahkmenrah threw the spear. It pierced the man's heart, and, startled and distracted, he released his preternatural hold on Kahmunrah, allowing him to collapse to the floor, breathing heavily but free of bandages.

But the man didn't collapse or seem at all fazed once he recovered from the shock of being targeted. "Great Gatsby," Amelia whispered.

"Run!" Ahkmenrah yelled. Kahmunrah wrenched open the door. Amelia pulled Larry to his feet. The man pulled the spear out of his chest and aimed it at Ahkmenrah, who was in the process of pushing his brother out the door and past the forest of roots. Ahkmenrah plucked the spear out of its flight toward his head and gave a passing nod to Larry and Amelia as they fled the warehouse. He spared a glance for his adversary and then followed his brother, friend, and fellow exhibit into the outside world.

"What the hell was that?" Larry asked Ahkmenrah. "You burn a guy and he comes out of it with supernatural powers?"

"So you figured it out," Ahkmenrah replied. "It's just as I feared."

"Wait, you were afraid this would happen? Why didn't you stop it?"

"Believe me, I tried."

"You did that? You burned his body?"

"Personally."

"I thought your relationship with Father was excellent," Kahmunrah said to his brother.

"I'll talk this out with you later," Ahkmenrah replied. "There's a lot you don't know."

"Please tell me you're talking about that weirdo," Larry said.

"In a word, yes."

"Here," Amelia said. She pulled open a door and hid behind it until the other three were inside. Then she bolted the door.

"Where are we?" Kahmunrah asked.

"Somewhere under the Museum of the American Indian. Best I could do on short notice." She walked down the hall.

"We better keep going," Larry said. "I don't know about you guys, but I don't want that undead creepazoid finding us." He followed her. The brothers shrugged at each other and walked on after the night guard.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"You burned his body?" Kahmunrah asked his brother in a low voice. "Why?"

"I had to," Ahkmenrah replied.

"It doesn't make sense. You were his favorite son."

"He was keeping me quiet, as if the death threat wasn't enough."

"What are you talking about?"

Ahkmenrah stopped and turned to face his brother. "I'll say this: I would've given anything to be in your position, for him to forget I even existed. It would've been easy for me to forget what I've seen and move on. But after he pressed a khopesh to my throat and told me that if I uttered a word, that would be the last thing I ever saw, he showed favor to me to bribe me into silence. Trust me. If I could change it, I wouldn't hesitate to." He turned sharply and continued walking.

"Why would he want to keep you quiet? What on earth could you possibly know?"

"What do you mean?"

"You never told me you personally burned his body."

"That would be a lie of omission, and I never told anyone. I merely let everyone believe it was something done by a dissatisfied nobleman and left it that."

"And the nobleman?"

"Left the country so it could look like I exiled him. Don't tell me you never had to keep up appearances." Kahmunrah fell silent. Ahkmenrah was about to say something about politics and caution when the sprinkler line overhead burst.

Larry and Amelia stopped and turned. Ahkmenrah was pulling his slightly unawares brother out of the path of debris from the walls of the tunnel. But as they ran, the tunnel walls burst inward after them. Amelia gasped, and Larry was already on his way in the other direction. She turned and took off.

Ahkmenrah didn't know or want to know where the water came from. All he knew and cared about was that he and Kahmunrah needed to get to safety, but he had no idea where that could possibly be. Water and mud and pieces of cement rushed into the tunnel, swirling around their legs as they ran. Ahkmenrah spotted a door and pushed it open long enough for them to gain entry. He slammed it shut against most of the water and larger pieces of debris. He numbly realized he had dropped the spear somewhere along the way, but that didn't matter very much as he slumped against the door, panting, his eyes closed. "My god," Kahmunrah whispered, taking in his brother's blanched, sweating face and slightly trembling form.

"I didn't know you had one," Ahkmenrah replied, earning him a surprisingly light smack on the temple. He cracked a smile anyway.

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

"How many other puns can you come up with about our current situation? Because I don't see anything funny about it."

"What do you want me to say?"

"I want you to tell me how we're not going to die down here."

Kahmunrah blinked in surprise at his brother and then looked around the room, a storage facility for various cleaning supplies. He pointed at an air vent and said, "There."

Ahkmenrah studied the vent. "Think we can fit?"

"Looks like it."

"You're going first. Hope you're right." Kahmunrah nodded and maneuvered his way up to the vent.

"Pass me something to hit this with, would you?" he said, but just as Ahkmenrah moved to oblige, the walls all dented inward. Ahkmenrah tossed his brother a vacuum cleaner and turned to the door, falling off its hinges and allowing the debris and sludge to flow in from the tunnel. Kahmunrah dislodged the grate and threw the vacuum cleaner aside. Ahkmenrah picked it up and prepared to use it as a weapon against the figure standing in the doorway, calf-deep in sludge. The figure held up his hands, and the mess responded as if commanded by him. He threw the vacuum aside and held up his fists. Two weapons were more effective than one.

The man threw his hands forward. The sludge shot toward him. He ducked, letting the sludge hit the wall and spray around him. Kahmunrah detached the gate and tossed it aside, and then he glanced down at his brother and the scene playing out behind him. Ahkmenrah was fairly evenly splitting his time between dodging debris and trying to get a blow in on that man. When the man was between him and his brother, Kahmunrah kicked him in the head. Ahkmenrah looked up at his brother and gave a grateful smile. He slammed the man's head against the wall for good measure and climbed up after his brother. He glanced at the man and slipped into the vent.

NATM

"Really, Larry, you take breaking up fights between exhibits too seriously," Amelia said, plucking the last of the tiny arrows from Larry's cheek.

"Like I said, it's my job," Larry replied. "I have to make sure exhibits get along peacefully."

"I thought you were an inventor, anyway."

"Guess guarding is like riding a bike."

"I knew you had a little moxie left."

"Moxie's not going to get rid of this freakshow. I don't even know if it can be done."

"Anything's possible, Mr. Daley." She leaned back and watched him with a smirk.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I hope Ahk and Kahmunrah get out okay."

"They should. Your Ahkmenrah looks like the resourceful sort."

"Kahmunrah's crazy enough to come up with the plans that are crazy enough to work."

"That should serve him well against that freakshow, as you call him."

"Personified mayhem also works," Ahkmenrah said. Amelia and Larry looked up, and Larry looked immensely relieved.

"He still down there?" the guard asked.

"Should be. I hope so."

"Well, now what? We're gonna have to do something about this guy eventually."

"He's right," Kahmunrah said. "We can't run and hide forever."

"Are you sure this is safe?" Amelia whispered to Larry.

"Do you have a better option?" Larry replied.

"Not at the present, unless you want to fly out for reinforcements."

"And leave this museum to its possible destruction? Not gonna happen."

"So what do we do?"

"If we have no other options and a serious problem, then we deal with it with what we've got."

"And if we die?"

"All wars carry the risk of death," Ahkmenrah said.

"This is a war?" Larry asked.

"For all intents and purposes, yes."

Larry stood. "So, what do we know about our enemy?"

Ahkmenrah sighed and bowed his head. "Time to be out with it," he whispered in Egyptian. He looked up and said to the group as a whole, "His name is Karahe. He was our father. I watched him do two things: first, I watched him beat our mother to death, and second-this is the part he'll kill me for-I watched him..." He took a deep breath. "He worshiped the chaos demon. In a little hollow in the palace garden where he kept and bred snakes. He kept an altar." Ahkmenrah swallowed. "I found it once. That's when he threatened to kill me. I had to destroy his body and make sure he ceased to exist. Such a man should not be known for ruling Egypt. If he never existed, then the chaos he planned to cause would never have existed. It would all be gone and we wouldn't be worrying about this."

"But we are."

"Exactly, which means either I wasn't thorough enough or someone saved him or backed him, though who I'd rather not think." Ahkmenrah smirked and looked up at the ceiling. "I'm dead," he said in Egyptian.

"So that's what you were talking about," Kahmunrah replied.

Ahkmenrah nodded. "I will say no more right now."

"So he's probably here to..." Larry trailed off uncertainly.

Ahkmenrah licked his lip. "If you want my guess, to bring the chaos demon into this world."


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

"Here?" Larry asked, gesturing to the ground beneath his feet.

"Here," Ahkmenrah replied.

"Does...does he know how?"

"Larry, I honestly have no idea."

"Well, Mr. Daley, if I was trying to bring something back from the underworld," Kahmunrah began.

"The tablet," Larry said. "We need to go."

NATM

Larry, Ahkmenrah, Kahmunrah, and Amelia peeked out from behind their various columns. The gate to the underworld and the tablet were both still in place, but Ahkmenrah noticed something strange. Horus had made himself scarce, and the one other birdman set to watch the gate was also missing. He checked himself. Not missing. He was...he was the Horus-shaped mummy lying on the floor parallel to the gate.

Ahkmenrah pulled back and tried to swallow his horror.

He took a deep breath and dared to peek into the foyer again. Besides the horrendously creepy dead body, the coast was clear. He gave the go-ahead to Larry, who nodded in response and walked up to the gate. Larry removed the tablet from its place and turned to walk away, but he must have seen something to give him pause. Ahkmenrah bit his lip and shrank back, instantly recognizing a defining moment in a conflict. What happened next could change the course of history.

Ahkmenrah watched intently. Larry knit his brow, and then his eyes widened. Ahkmenrah turned sharply to his brother, but Kahmunrah was also watching the scene play out. Ahkmenrah reluctantly turned his attention back to Larry.

Larry turned and walked briskly back to where Amelia stood. "What's up, ace?" she asked.

"I don't know, but something feels wrong," Larry replied, returning his attention to the door.

"It's time for us to skedaddle." Larry nodded and followed Amelia down a corridor.

Ahkmenrah turned to his brother again, to find Kahmunrah looking directly at him. "I don't have a solution," he whispered, and he started to walk down the nearest hallway.

"Ahkmenrah," Kahmunrah said. His brother stopped and faced him. "Those things you said earlier..."

"No, I didn't make them up."

"I...I had no idea."

"Now you do. We might be able to use that to advantage."

Kahmunrah licked his lip and sighed. "One more thing."

"Yes?"

"I killed you. Why do you keep saving me?"

"Because you're my brother. In the end, that's all we have." Ahkmenrah tilted his head down the corridor. "Come on. Let's go." Kahmunrah nodded and set off with his brother.

NATM

"It looks like a waiting game now, Mr. Daley," Amelia said.

"Unless he's been stalking us the whole time," Larry replied, slipping his flashlight out of his belt and examining their surroundings.

"Wow. Guess you were right about guarding."

"Guess so."

"Oh, there you are," Ahkmenrah said. He and his brother walked into the small alcove at the back of the building that Amelia and Larry had found some time prior. "I could've sworn we were lost."

"Well, if you listened to me," Kahmunrah began, crossing his arms.

"I did."

"What does that say about your sense of direction?" Amelia asked.

"I'd love to ask about yours," Kahmunrah replied.

"Okay, that's enough," Larry said, holding his hamds up and moving between them.

"Thank you, Larry," Ahkmenrah said.

"We have the tablet," Amelia asked, "so now what do we do? Do we just keep running, or what?"

"Our options are either keep moving or fight to the death, but the more distance we put between the tablet and the gate, the better."

"Can't we just banish this guy into oblivion?" Larry asked.

"I tried that, and look what happened."

"Yeah, good point. Hey, I've been meaning to ask. How did he get here, again?"

"No idea. Best guess? Saw an opening when my idiot brother opened the gate and summoned his army of Horus-impostors, waited awhile until someone happened upon him, and thus we see the straits that we are in."

"Okay, simple enough. We can't banish him back to the underworld, because he'll probably come back, and he can't be killed. We tried that one already. And I don't know about you guys, but I certainly don't want to deal with any chaos demons any time soon. So, all that being said, what the hell do we do?"

"Tommy...Little Tommy...Oh, God," Al Capone said through his panting as he ran into the room and pointed vaguely to his left. He then crossed himself, bowed his head, and whispered, "Holy Mary, Mother in Heaven..."

"Oh, no," Ahkmenrah whispered, shaking his head.

"Where is Tommy?" Larry asked. Al swallowed and gestured for them to follow him. They walked down a series of corridors and out a side door to an alley between two buildings, and then Al stopped them and gestured to a bundle hunched against the wall of the building facing them. It took a moment to realize that the bundle was a fresh mummy. Then they shrank back.

The body twitched. Everyone jumped. "Don't cut it out," Ahkmenrah said.

"Who wants to?" Larry asked. Al Capone had knelt and folded his hands; he was now deep in prayer. No one was an atheist in a foxhole, as Larry said, Ahkmenrah thought. "What's happening?"

"What makes this one different from the mummy in front of the gate?"

"What?"

"Why is this one moving?"

"Okay, you're creepin' me out."

"I'm asking a serious question."

"I don't know, okay? I don't know why this one is moving," Larry snapped.

"Thank you," Ahkmenrah replied, his voice strained. Kahmunrah looked at him and furrowed his brow, and then he turned his attention back to the mummy struggling for its freedom. "Did this one not die?"

"I don't know, but I'm not sure I want to find out."

"Seconded," Amelia said.

"Who wants to just get out of here?" Kahmunrah asked.

Al stood. "I'm in," he said.

Larry nodded and turned to the door. Ahkmenrah, Al, and Kahmunrah followed him. Amelia cast a final glance at the mummy, somewhat piteously, and then followed the group.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

"A live mummy and a dead one," Ahkmenrah said from his place perched on the fountain. "I feel like I'm in a modern horror film."

"Dare I ask?" Kahmunrah replied.

"They're actually pretty cheesy, but it's easy to think that when you know the events aren't actually taking place."

"But they are," Larry said, "and that's why we're so screwed."

"Actually we're screwed because of an unforseen consequence of Kahmunrah's opening the gate to the underworld and extending immortality to all of the exhibits that the tablet has touched: either directly or indirectly, he allowed Karahe entrance into this world, going with the theory, of course."

"Not like we have a better one."

"Regardless, that our situation mimics a horror movie is either a coincidence or somehow deliberately planned."

"How do the protagonists win in horror movies?" Amelia asked.

"Kill the unkillable," Larry said.

"And how are we supposed to manage that?"

"We have the tablet," Ahkmenrah said. "That's our chief bargaining chip. We also have direct access to the gate. At the very least, we can seal Karahe in the underworld, to be left at the mercy of the monsters that realm has to offer."

"Not the best option, but I guess we need to take it."

NATM

Finally, Horus thought.

NATM

"How do you know this crazy plan of yours is going to work?" Ivan asked.

"If you've got a better idea, let's hear it," Al snapped.

"Gentlemen," Ahkmenrah said. Al and Ivan fell silent. "Here's how we know this'll work. I told his nasty little secret, and as soon as he finds that out, he'll try to kill me."

"Wait, we're using human bait?"

"Yes. While our dear mummifying friend Karahe is trying to kill me, I will lead him to the gate, which my brother will have opened."

"Where do we come in?"

"You'll be on hand in case anything goes wrong, but remember, he can't be killed."

"So if something goes wrong, what're we supposed to do?" Al asked.

"Your best."

"If it ain't good enough?"

"It should be, especially to scare him off."

"You think we can pull that off?"

"We're going to have to trust you to. Can you do it?" The three of them whispered amongst themselves for a moment, nodded to each other, and then nodded to Ahkmenrah, Larry, Amelia, and Kahmunrah. "Alright, let's go."

NATM

Ahkmenrah took the latest in a long string of breaths meant to calm his nerves, and he clenched his fists in his pockets. This had to work, he told himself. It was the only way he could get Karahe out of this world and into the underworld, where he could be taken care of by someone or something else. Then he could right what Kahmunrah had done with the tablet, set the world back into order, and go back to New York.

But his brother was coming around from the man he had been during the civil war that had nearly destroyed Egypt and had certainly ended his life. At least this time around Kahmunrah wasn't plunging a spear into Ahkmenrah's chest. The closest they got to their old relationship was the fight on the steps of Smithsonian Castle. And now Kahmunrah knew the reason behind the favoritism, that it was used to buy Ahkmenrah's silence in spite of the fact that the death threats were enough to ensure it, and Ahkmenrah had seen the change in his brother's eyes.

What was Karahe so afraid of that he felt the need to buy silence as well as threaten for it? Surely Kahmunrah would be wondering the same thing. Maybe Karahe felt that Ahkmenrah would suddenly grow a pair, as the modern expression went, and tell someone, but Ahkmenrah was almost certain no one would believe him. After all, the story was so outlandish he hardly believed it.

But that didn't change what he'd seen, or the fact that it actually existed, regardless of what anyone said about the rules of existence, what he had been taught throughout his formative years.

He shook his head and stopped at one end of the Reflecting Pool, his gaze drifting over the water's smooth surface and up to the Lincoln Memorial. He could see the statue within, perhaps fearful of garnering too much unwanted attention. Ahkmenrah couldn't blame him.

He felt the unnaturalness of Karahe's presence almost immediately, and he clenched his jaw against the terror it evoked in him. He could do this. He could do this. He turned slowly and looked Karahe in the eye. The recent mummifications had left their mark on him, giving his visage an even more pronounced air of evil and filth. How he kept his gaze even, he had no idea, but he managed it even through what he had to say next. "Do you know how to keep a secret? You make sure it dies with you. I'm afraid I'm not so careful." Karahe blinked at him. "There's a saying in modern times. 'Loose lips sink ships.' It looks like you're going to sink, Karahe."

Karahe conjured a khopesh and pressed it to Ahkmenrah's throat. He wasn't sure which threw him more: the fact that the blade burned on contact or the fact that Karahe could do such a thing. "Who else knows?" he asked.

"Well, Larry, his companion, Kahmunrah...but you know Kahmunrah. He's an inveterate gossip. He's probably told half the statuary by now." Karahe took a swing at him. Ahkmenrah ducked and espied the Castle. Time for a game of cat and mouse, he thought, and he took off.

NATM

Ahkmenrah almost sensed a disturbance behind and to the right of him, and he turned and almost had to stop and stare. A mummy, unwrapped enough to reveal some decomposing flesh, was staggering toward him. He turned and kept running for the steps of Smithsonian Castle. Make the foyer, he told himself, but there was another disturbance, in front of him. Shit. Another mummy staggered forward, this one one of Kahmunrah's hawk-headed minions. You're an idiot, he thought to his brother.

He staggered to a stop and looked around to gain his bearings. Three enemies, two serving the one slavishly. In all likelihood, if he eliminated the master, he could release the slaves, though they'd still be dead. But then they'd have a shot at the afterlife. Primary target: Karahe. Only trouble was, he couldn't be killed.

He moved around the hawk-headed mummy and toward the gate. Accomplish the mission, he thought. That's all you need to do. All three of his adversaries now encroached upon him. Good, he thought. Keep taking the bait.

Karahe swung at Ahkmenrah again. Ahkmenrah blocked and wrestled with him for a moment over the khopesh before tearing it out of his hands and moving back.

Kahmunrah took his cue from the events taking place and began entering the combination that opened the gate.

Karahe conjured another khopesh, and his sword fight with Ahkmenrah began. Ahkmenrah personally led him to the gate, which now swung open. He felt the energy at his back, and he smiled and threw renewed force behind each of his blows. He shoved Karahe toward the door, and then he felt Karahe forcibly pull on his shoulder, sending him through the gate as well.

Ahkmenrah instinctively groped for the door but touched nothing.

Kahmunrah turned away as the door closed on his father and brother.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Larry stepped forward, but a birdman stopped him with its spear. "Okay, what's going on?" he asked.

"Ahkmenrah is in a very dangerous place now," the birdman replied. Larry instantly recognized the voice of Horus.

"So...shouldn't somebody back him up?"

"It is actually safer for him if he is alone. The fewer abnormalities, the better."

"Oh, right. Chaos demon." Horus nodded, and Larry backed off.

"So what now?" Al asked.

Larry faced him and said, "Right now, I honestly have no idea."

NATM

Ahkmenrah stood and turned a complete rotation. He was the only soul, embodied or otherwise, in the parched desert that stretched for miles in all directions. There were no structures, especially none to indicate a portal, and he had no way of knowing which direction was witch. The sky was the same unearthly green Kahmunrah's gate had revealed, and he doubted he could see the sun.

He took a step and looked down at where he lay and then stood. There was a depression and a small series of footprints in the dust that the cracked earth was being reduced to. By what, though, Ahkmenrah couldn't be entirely sure.

He had to go somewhere, he decided as he took another survey of his surroundings. Then he chose a direction and started walking.

NATM

Horus marveled at how humans and exhibits managed to organize themselves and initiate a plan of action so quickly, but then, Larry's skill at diplomacy and almost overwhelming honesty had never failed to impress. Within minutes of Ahkmenrah's disappearance into the underworld, several of the exhibits had secured the foyer with Larry's help, and now all that was left to do was wait and try to think of a way to safely extract the young pharaoh. "The real problem," he said after a moment of listening to their back and forth, "is not that the boy is far from you, but that now Karahe is closer to a means of summons."

"So what are we supposed to do, if we can't go there?" Al asked.

"We take the tablet up to New York," Larry said matter-of-fact-ly. It seemed Horus had only to keep doing what he was doing for everything to work out smoothly. "There's a bunch of people up there that I know that we can work with to get Ahkmenrah back and stop this freak."

"Okay."

"My friends are gonna get a kick out of this," Larry muttered as he turned to the gate and retrieved the tablet.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

"Lawrence, my boy," Teddy said when Larry appeared in the doorway of the safe house. "I see the pharaoh pointed you in the right direction, as well."

"Actually, Ahk's in the underworld," Larry replied. "He's not dead, of course, but... I think you should sit down."

"What on earth..."

"It's a long, confusing story."

"I'm a patient man."

Larry sighed. "Remember Kahmunrah?"

"I've heard of him, yes."

"So you know how much he hated his brother, but it turns out the real reason behind their parents' favoritism is because Ahkmenrah saw some things he shouldn't have, and as if the death threats weren't enough, he was bribed to keep his silence."

"What did he see?"

"Well, he saw his father beat his mother to death, and he found an altar to an Egyptian chaos demon in the palace garden. The altar was apparently kept by his father. That's what really got him going, apparently, since that's where the death threats come in. And apparently the father also kept snakes."

"That's not in any way unusual, I don't think."

"It was remarkable enough for Ahk to mention it."

"Wait a second here," Jed said from the endtable. "If Ahk's in the underworld, how're you here?"

"What I'd like to know is how he ended up there," Octavius added.

"He left a sticky-note saying he or something else was in Poughkeepsie, probably the safe house," Larry replied, looking first to Jed. To both Octavius and Teddy, he said, "Ahkmenrah and Kahmunrah's father came back from ceasing to exist. Ahk tried to destroy him, for obvious and creepy reasons, but now he's here, and he knows Ahkmenrah told us his dirty little secret, so now he's pissed, and we used it to try to banish him back into the underworld. Ahk's father just took him with him."

"So now they're both in the underworld," Jed said.

"And here's the rub. Horus apparently has a personal stake in all this because he's been here, on this side of things, watching us and sometimes offering assistance. But according to him, if we go into the underworld before we're supposed to, that'll cause us all kinds of problems, and given that we're dealing with a chaos demon and his loyal minion, it makes perfect sense. Already someone who shouldn't be in the underworld is stuck there. Any more than that, the more likely it is that someone we don't want to notice us does."

"So what're you doin' here?"

Larry produced the tablet from inside his jacket. "Separating the lock from the key."

"You think that'll keep Psycho Senior in the underworld?"

"It'll keep him from using the gate, for certain, but it also means Ahk's still stuck." Jed bit his lip and nodded. "We're working on getting him back."

"No, I believe ya."

"But if you do that, won't you also open a door for this chaos demon's worshiper?" Teddy asked.

"That's the least of my problems," Larry replied. "Our friend who's risen from nonexistence is trying to bring the chaos demon here, probably to bring about the world's destruction and remake the world in his own image, or something like that. Still, though. Good point." Teddy nodded. "That's going to be a serious problem, no doubt about it."

"Where's Kahmunrah?" Octavius asked, taking a step forward. "What happened to him in the middle of all this?"

"Somethin' good, I hope," Jed added.

"Actually, our friend from nonexistence is a bigger fish than Kahmunrah, so what other side is there?" Larry replied.

"That still doesn't tell me where he is," Octavius said.

"Not gonna say. Believe it or not, I have a feeling there's gonna be an _en masse_ attempt on his life if he shows up here."

"I wonder who will be behind that," Teddy said.

"Yeah, no kidding."

Teddy clapped Larry on the shoulder. "We will puzzle out the mystery of how to retrieve our friend the pharaoh from the underworld. I believe you have other exhibits to secure."

"Can I help?" Brunden asked from his corner. "The cavemen are freaking me out."

"You'll get used to it, or we'll fix this and you'll never have to deal with this ever again," Larry replied. "Yeah, come on." He gestured for Brunden to come with him, and they walked out of the room.

NATM

Ahkmenrah squatted and bowed his head. His fingers dug into his sides, and sweat dripped from his brow onto the earth, to disappear right after. If not for the lack of a depression in the dust, he could've sworn he walked for an eternity but got nowhere. Where was he? Was he somewhere he was supposed to have recognized, but because of his brother's foolish actions with the tablet and Karahe's resurgence, it was no longer so?

His knees touched the ground, and then he lay on his side. How long had he been walking? Hours, maybe. Possibly a day, but there was no way to keep track of time, and this land could place any test it wished on a soul to deem it worthy. But he wasn't even supposed to be here. After all, he hadn't died this time, but he was here, he was stuck, and he was lost.

Karahe was somewhere here, as well, also seeking a way back to the upper world, and Ahkmenrah was almost certain that he was likely to bring his master back with him. That was how he ended up here, trying to stop him. Now Ahkmenrah doubted his father could be stopped.

"Have faith," a voice whispered. Ahkmenrah had a hard time discerning its direction or whether it was inside his head or not. He pulled his gaze out of the shell he made for himself and looked around, rolling onto his back. He was still the only soul around, but he knew the voice was no hallucination. "Be strong and have faith," the voice said again. Great, someone was trying to preach to him. He rolled onto his side again. So far as he could judge, the situation was now not only mostly hopeless, but a perfect storm for insanity. "When voices answer your prayers, it's not always insanity." So he'd been praying now. Fantastic. He stood and looked around, and he noticed a bright spot on the horizon. No way it could be dusk in the upper world yet, unless things were spiraling so out of control that now the situation was truly and utterly beyond hopeless.

But the more he stared at the light, the more convinced he became that it had to be the sun venturing into the underworld, and that meant that was west. If he went east, he could possibly find a way into the upper world. He turned and started walking again.

NATM

"So what's our mission?" Brunden asked. "Are we gonna...do awesome karate moves and tie the exhibits down?"

"Actually we're going to explain the situation and help them secure the building against the walking dead and his divine patron," Larry replied. "I don't fight anyone unless it's absolutely necessary."

"But you had to learn that move you did on me from somewhere."

"Some of the exhibits volunteered to teach me how to fight. You know, just in case."

"In case of what?"

"Well, I held my own against Kahmunrah decently enough, and he's a tough dude." Brunden looked at him in amazement. "Seriously."

"Is that the only exhibit you ever fought?"

"Actually, when I started this job back up in New York, I had to fight almost everyone. Huns, Dexter, Rexy..."

"Wow."

Larry turned onto the Interstate. "And don't get me started about the three guards I was replacing."

"Double wow."

"Cecil was decent when greed didn't get the best of him, or when he didn't want to let on that that was what happened."

"Do they still work there?"

"If by 'work there' you mean clean up after the exhibits after a wild night, yeah. Pisses Gus off to no end, but anything gets him going. He's about the only one, though."

"So they're still around. Can we learn from them?"

"Maybe. Don't know how they'll take to you, though."

"What about the exhibits? Are they gonna like me?"

"They seem to like you enough already."

"It's still weird that they're alive right now."

"This happens every night up in New York."

"In all their museums?"

"Just the one I worked at. The tablet brings them to life when the sun sets, and they become exhibits again when the sun rises the next day. But now everything's out of whack because Kahmunrah won the fight in the Smithsonian, extended immortality to the all the exhibits that the tablet has ever touched, and now some guy has come back from not existing, I won't go into how or why, and now there's the threat of this guy's demonic master coming back from the underworld with him."

"What about that Ahkmenrah kid? Isn't he in the underworld, too?"

"Yes, but here's the rub, as Teddy pointed out: if we bring Ahk back, we open the door for his father, the some guy I mentioned earlier."

"This family's better than cable. First the sibling rivalry and now this. You could make a killing off a reality show about them."

"Love to, but can't."

"Why not?"

"Because that means we have to expose the tablet, and I don't want all the trouble that'll give us."

"Why not? That'll do wonders for a failing museum."

"It'll also open a can of worms I don't want to deal with. D.O.D. Conspiracy theorists. Skeptics. Crazies. Smell what I'm steppin' in?"

"Yeah, I can see that, but that means people come to the museum." Larry nodded. He had to give Brunden that one. "So this guy that's not supposed to exist..."

"Kinda like Imhotep from _The Mummy_ and _The Mummy Returns_, but it's real."

"Can he control the plagues of Egypt?"

"No flippin' clue."

"Can his master?"

"Again, no flippin' clue, but I don't want to find out." Brunden lapsed into silence, giving Larry the opportunity to turn his full attention to the road.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

The exhibits were more than willing to help secure the building and perpetuate the renovations story, but convincing Brunden's superiors was another matter entirely, as they both soon found out. Brunden, in the minds of everyone in the meeting room, looked utterly insane, so Larry decided to stand and salvage the situation. "Everything he says is true," he said. "There is a magical tablet that is bringing these exhibits to life. I admit that doesn't usually happen, because the tablet is usually elsewhere, and this only occurs at night under normal circumstances, but things have changed in the past week, producing the results that I'm almost certain you've noticed. Maybe some of your exhibits have moved or vanished, or you've spotted talking busts or the balloon dog on the ceiling. This is not a prank, and trust me, if we knew how to correct this, we would have done so by now."

"Do you know how this tablet works?" a man asked, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms.

"Only rudimentarily. One of our exhibits in New York, the mummy of the Pharaoh Ahkmenrah, understands it better than I do."

"And where is this Ahkmenrah?"

"The underworld."

"The gate is a mythic door to the underworld."

"But it does work, I assure you. I've seen it happen with my own eyes, and I'm sure if you ask Ivan the Terrible, Al Capone, or Napoleon Bonaparte, they'll tell you the same thing. Heck, even ask the Einstein bobble head in the purple sweater."

"This tablet supposedly works on souvenirs, too," the man said with a laugh. "What are you selling?"

"Nothing. I can introduce you to Abraham Lincoln, if you won't listen to me."

"Oh, great."

"I'm serious. The statue in the Lincoln Memorial is alive, too. He's got a real thing with pigeons I think you should talk to someone about that." The man burst into laughter, and several others at the table chuckled along with him, but it seemed to Larry that at least the others were taking him seriously. "Who is this guy?" he asked one of them.

"He thinks he's funny," the woman replied. "He's about the only one, though."

"Reminds me of someone you talked about," Brunden whispered to Larry.

"Actually, he reminds me of McPhee," Larry replied. "Gus is more belligerent."

"Oh."

"Honest mistake."

The man stopped laughing, faked wiping a tear from his eye, and leaned forward again. "Why the hell should I believe you?" he asked Larry, looking the ex-guard in the eye.

"Because last time I checked, I'm the only one alive and able who's qualified to deal with this situation and get the museum back to the way it used to be."

The man sighed. "Fine. If you're qualified to handle this, then you'd better handle it."

"Believe me, I will. Thank you, sir." The man nodded brusquely, and Larry gestured for Brunden to leave the room. He gave the people at the table a nod and followed the guard.

"That was awesome," Brunden whispered as they walked down the hall.

"I had to handle McPhee every day," Larry offered by way of explanation. "You've really gotta meet him, I swear."

"Sounds like."

NATM

As Ahkmenrah walked, he pondered his relationship with his brother. He knew that as soon as Karahe appeared on the scene, something had changed in that arena. Both times. The first time, when he was barely old enough to remember anything else, when Kahmunrah learned that Karahe favored Ahkmenrah, it changed for the worse. When Kahmunrah learned their father's deepest secret, it changed for the better, or for something completely different. Ahkmenrah didn't know for certain as of yet, but at least his brother was no longer trying to kill him. Maybe Kahmunrah was just as puzzled as he was. Certainly it was that simple. It had to be. If there was one thing Kahmunrah was not, it was extremely complex and worthy of scholarly discussion when it came to his thought processes. On the flip side, he wasn't a simpleton, either. Somehow, Ahkmenrah duly noted, his brother found a happy medium between the two.

Come to think of it, and Ahkmenrah had been thinking about it for upwards of several hours, he and his brother had been, in essence and in practice, forced into a situation where they had to work together and Ahkmenrah had to go to bat for his brother, as Larry would say. But he would've done that anyway. Kahmunrah was his brother, and he loved him.

NATM

Kahmunrah leaned against the wall and rubbed his eyes. Even just processing this day was draining him of what strength he had left. His brother, whom he wanted dead for almost the entirety of the latter's life, continuously stepped in for him and even once saved his life. Against Karahe, no less, who was not only intimidating in his own right, but who had favored Ahkmenrah back in Egypt, adding to the situation. The reason, though, was nothing like Kahmunrah had expected. It wasn't because Ahkmenrah was just or good, which he was, no doubt about it, but because Karahe needed a reassurance of his silence.

Karahe had returned, started to mummify people alive indiscriminately, and had taken Ahkmenrah with him back into the underworld. Kahmunrah, though more enlightened as to the favoritism, had no idea what to do with that piece of information.

He and his brother used to be close, when the boy wasn't much older than a babe in arms, barely old enough to remember the moments they shared watching the sun rise over Memphis. But he hadn't been Ahkmenrah's brother in millennia. Instead, they were bitter, bitter rivals for the throne of Egypt and the tablet.

But there was something else at play here: the tablet was Ahkmenrah's, but the gate was Kahmunrah's, and they went together to achieve an end: opening a door to the underworld. What came out of it there was no way of predicting, but that was beside the point.

Kahmunrah had the feeling he should be remembering something, a little snippet of a conversation from days long past. Something about brothers, brothers working together. They could do something. No, not something. He rubbed his eyes again. This was getting tricky. It was on the top of his head, but he couldn't reach it.

He sighed and straightened. Two brothers...working together...could do... Not do. Accomplish. He was sure of it. And it wasn't something. He whispered a saying in Egyptian, and then he repeated it in triumph. The two brothers, when working together, could accomplish anything.

An entire plan formed in his mind, and he walked out the door and up the stairs.

NATM

Teddy answered the door and blinked in surprise. "I'm sure I'm the last person you were expecting," the man at the door said.

"Are ya seriously gonna trust this guy?" Jed asked.

"I'm not asking you to trust me. I've devised a solution."

"We don' need your help."

"Actually you do. Rumor has it you have a puzzle on your hands, a puzzle I can solve."

"You don' need ta listen to this guy," Jed yelled to Teddy.

"Do you have a plan? Any of you? Anyone? Anyone? I'm open to suggestions."

"Do you know how to operate the tablet?" Teddy asked.

"Actually yes, yes I do."

"Great. What happens to us now?" Jed asked.

"What happens is we all go back to the museum and restore the proper rhythm of the tablet."

"How's that gonna do any good?"

"It will work because our souls will venture into the underworld. I'm sure you've experienced this on some level."

"Bully," Teddy exclaimed, clapping Kahmunrah rather forcefully on the back. Kahmunrah blinked and spent a moment loosening his shoulders. "That's brilliant."

"Thank you."

"Wait, you think this'll work?" Jed asked.

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing. I did this, and I can undo it."

"How do we know you're not going to kill us all?"

"If I wanted you dead, it would have happened by now. Trust me."

"It actually makes perfect sense," Sacagawea said. "If we go to the underworld, then we can stop this fiend there, and he would never suspect it."

"Yeah, he's a real piece of work," Jed added.

"You can settle your score with me later," Kahmunrah said. "Do you want to stop Karahe or not?"

Jed sighed. "I'm the only one opposed, aren't I?"

"Jed, we have to do something, and Kahmunrah is the only one here with a plan," Octavius explained gently.

"I don' have to like this guy, do I?"

"No."

"If we don't do this?"

"Then the world will end."

"Then I guess we better. But I ain't gonna like it."

"Fair enough."

"Let's go," Kahmunrah said, and he turned for the door.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Ahkmenrah stopped and gripped his sides. This was getting ridiculous, and part of him was starting to think he was walking in circles. The idea was completely insane, of course, his rational mind told him.

He glanced at the sun to gain his bearings only to find that it now hovered on the eastern horizon, bright and fresh and ready to start the day. Dawn was coming to the upper world. Unless Kahmunrah restored the rhythm, the exhibits would still be up and about, still trying to figure out the new rules under which they lived. His heart went out to them. He knew firsthand how difficult transitions could be.

Watching the sun's transition, though, brought back an old memory, one from before his bitter, mostly one-sided rivalry with his brother started. Ahkmenrah as three, and Kahmunrah had just reached majority. All was still right with his little world.

One morning, just like many others, the brothers climbed the dam and watched the sun rise over Memphis. Ahkmenrah took his brother's hand and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Kahmunrah had replied. Neither of them knew at the time that the idyll couldn't last forever.

Ahkmenrah bowed his head and wiped his cheeks dry.

"So you didn't walk off the face of the underworld."

Ahkmenrah turned to the speaker and cried out, "Kahmunrah," and threw his arms around his brother's neck. Then he pulled back, his hands still on Kahmunrah's shoulders. "What are you doing here? Have you run mad? He's here, and so is-"

"I know."

Ahkmenrah lowered his hands. "Still, though. What are you doing here? Out here? In the middle of the desert? You should be with the others."

"I was looking for you." Ahkmenrah looked into Kahmunrah's eyes and nodded. "The two brothers, when working together, can accomplish anything."

"Where did you hear that?"

"I can't remember exactly. It took me a while to remember the saying itself."

"Relating to the tablet and the gate, I presume." Kahmunrah nodded. "The gate requires the tablet to function, but strangely, without the gate, the tablet's function is only to bring exhibits to life. It does that well enough, but that's about it." Kahmunrah eyed his brother skeptically. Ahkmenrah licked his lip, sighed, and said, "Look, I know we've been fighting each other for most of our lives, but even I remember a time when we were brothers first and royal second. I'd guess that means something to you on some level because you're here, but I don't want to make an assumption."

Kahmunrah nodded. "Those can get you in trouble," he said softly. Even a blind and deaf man could notice that Ahkmenrah struck a chord in his brother. Kahmunrah bit his lip and looked at the ground. He exhaled, looked up again, and nodded. "Yes," he whispered. "It must mean something to me. Otherwise I wouldn't be here. I'd have left you for dead at the earliest opportunity. But...you keep standing up for me."

"That's what brothers do."

"Not us, apparently." Ahkmenrah laughed. "You find this amusing," Kahmunrah said slowly, as if trying to grasp the concept.

"What fun is life if you can't laugh at anything?" Kahmunrah nodded in concession of the point, and Ahkmenrah gestured to the east with his head. "Come on, let's go."

"You're sure about this?"

"It's the only direction I've been given thus far. Unless you'd like to point me in another."

"I'm just checking on you. I'd have done the same thing." They set off side-by-side.

NATM

Jed leaned against the rock, staring at what he called the daytime world with new eyes. At first, he was still convinced that Kahmunrah was just as crazy as ever, but Octavius had been kind and patient enough to explain the Egyptian concept of the underworld to him. The way he put it, Jed found that it made a lot of sense, but then, Jed only trusted his fellow cowboys, the Roman general, and Gigantor.

"Jedediah?" Octavius asked. Jed turned, still leaning on the rock. the general was standing there, one hand on the hilt of his sword.

"This is so weird," Jed replied. "I can't believe he was right." Octavius nodded. "I think I liked it better when I thought I was dreamin'." Octavius nodded again. Jed turned back to the rock, and Octavius walked up and lay a hand on his shoulder. "What the hell happened? I thought Kahmunrah wanted his brother dead."

"They share a common enemy and must work together." Jed sighed and bowed his head. Octavius whispered in his ear, "I won't let him hurt you again. I swear it."

Jed looked at Octavius. "Thanks."

NATM

"So I was raised believing I would be King of Egypt to essentially be told I was worthless." Thus, Kahmunrah concluded the long, supposedly therapeutic diatribe his brother insisted upon. Ahkmenrah glanced at the ground, then at his brother, and then he donned a sly smile and nudged Kahmunrah with his shoulder. Kahmunrah responded with a shove, to which Ahkmenrah shoved back and took off. "It is on, you little..." Kahmunrah growled, giving chase.

Ahkmenrah turned, still in motion, and called, "Catch me if you can."

It took Kahmunrah a good ten minutes to even catch up to his younger, lighter brother. Five minutes later, he tackled Ahkmenrah to the ground, and they tumbled over each other. Ahkmenrah burst out laughing. Kahmunrah looked at him and whispered, "You are so weird."

"Yeah, I know," Ahkmenrah replied. Kahmunrah's attention was arrested by something at his feet, and he stood and approached the object, a rib bone jutting out of the desert. Ahkmenrah stood behind him, now completely sober. "What is it?"

"Spare rib?"

Ahkmenrah walked up to his brother's side and stared at the rib in the desert. Then his eye drifted to the desert before them. Bones of various sorts, most of them human, were littered about. "Oh, this can't be what I think it is."

"Ammit," they said simultaneously. Their suspicions were confirmed by a roar echoing across the landscape.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

"What just happened?" Brunden asked, looking around at the now-silent Smithsonian Castle. "Why aren't they up anymore?"

"Kahmunrah must've restored the rhythm," Larry replied. "Actually makes our job of keeping this place secure easier."

"Wait, we're trusting a lunatic now?"

"There's a bigger fish."

"Bigger than Kahmunrah? You said he was tough."

"He is, but he can't mummify people alive, fracture water manes, or disrupt the surface of the earth itself."

"What?" Larry told his story, and as Brunden listened, his eyes opened wider and wider. If it could, his jaw would've hit the floor by the time Larry finished. "You're serious?"

"Yeah. Serious as a heart attack."

"You were right. I couldn't even imagine this."

"Neither could I, and I promise, it's not usually this bad."

"Usually? You mean, exhibits don't try to kill you on a daily basis?"

"That hasn't happened since my first few days on the job, and by the end of that, I got the exhibits to get along with each other. And yes, it can be done."

"Wow. So, you get by okay?"

"Yeah."

Brunden nodded. His face had gone blank. "I, um, think I'll go now." Larry nodded and watched him walk away.

NATM

Ahkmenrah stepped backward, instinctively moving closer to his brother. "Now what?" Kahmunrah asked.

"This is not the time for panicking," Ahkmenrah replied, facing Kahmunrah.

"Who says I'm panicking?"

"On top of your lisp, you're starting to stutter." Kahmunrah's brows drew together. "You're a pretty easy read, brother."

"So, if we're in Ammit's killing field, then we're close to the end of the journey of normal dead people, of which we obviously are not."

"That means we're closer to finding Karahe and stopping him. And I thought I was wandering around aimlessly for all this time."

"Have you even figured out how to do that?"

Ahkmenrah paused, then said, "No. You?"

"Actually this was a half-baked scheme to get around needing to use the gate."

"Then we need another half-baked scheme."

"I better start working on it, then."

"Me, too." He tilted his head to their path. "We should go, before we're found."

"I thought that was our purpose, to be found."

"Not by Ammit, and certainly not by-" Ahkmenrah's voice was choked by sudden fear, and he was convinced that Karahe, his master, or both were close or launching an attack. He was about to say, "Run," but when he opened his mouth for the word, he had the impression that they were surrounded.

"Ahkmenrah?" Kahmunrah asked. Watching his brother being overcome by abject terror was becoming very unnerving very quickly, but he had no idea where to even begin to do something about it. A movement behind Ahkmenrah attracted Kahmunrah's attention. "Brother." Ahkmenrah noticed the change in his brother's voice and eye, and then he turned. The bones of slain sinners were rising out of the desert sands in as many complete skeletons as possible. Ahkmenrah cried out and moved back. Kahmunrah wrapped an arm around his chest. "What is so unholy..." he began. Slight panic had faded into Kahmunrah's own version of fear.

Ahkmenrah took his brother's hand in his own and began to whisper a prayer for the both of them. The skeletons moved toward them in a way reminiscent of movie monsters that Larry had shown Ahkmenrah at some point, before he left for good. The brothers moved back, and then Kahmunrah pushed Ahkmenrah behind him and tried to push him away. "I am not for a second leaving you, especially since you're unarmed," Ahkmenrah snapped.

"If you don't get out of here, you could die."

"I already did that."

"Exactly, and you're not going to do it again."

"And neither are you, unless we both fall together. We're brothers first, Kahmunrah, and royal second." Kahmunrah turned and extended his hand, which Ahkmenrah grasped fervently. "Now, what are our options?"

Kahmunrah turned to the skeletons, inching closer and moving to surround them. "Keep a path open to us. Objective is survival, not victory." Ahkmenrah nodded and turned to the skeletons.

NATM

Teddy looked around at the other exhibits. Despite this being paradise, he was getting antsy, and he could tell others were, too. They weren't supposed to know about this in this capacity, he could tell. But serve a purpose this did. Kahmunrah's actions got the brothers and a small army of exhibits into the underworld to stand against Karahe and extract Ahkmenrah. Kahmunrah had gone to find his brother, and while this may have contributed to Teddy's unease, the somewhat crazy pharaoh had proven himself more than competent under the circumstances.

But there was another unknown to account for: Where was Karahe? When an enemy could literally be anywhere, was as unknown and unpredictable as a force of nature (as he had been so described), and for this and other reasons extremely dangerous, he had to be found as soon as possible, or the fight was surely lost.

He could only be found by those who knew where to look for them, of which there were presently two, and even then, it would take a while. Ahkmenrah and Kahmunrah were alone in a dangerous world.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Ahkmenrah dug his fingers into the eye sockets of his latest foe and tore the skull right off the skeleton's neck. He flung the skull into the dirt and glanced at his brother, wielding two femurs like swords against a particularly violent foe. Ahkmenrah took two of the skeleton's ribs and used them to decapitate the individual. Kahmunrah nodded his thanks and then said, "Behind you." Ahkmenrah turned, swinging the ribs and swiftly removing this creature's head.

"Go for the head," Ahkmenrah replied. "That seems like the only way to stop these bastards."

"Only problem is there's too many of them." Ahkmenrah nodded. Kahmunrah threw the bones into the dust and stepped back, taking his brother with him, but the creatures stopped suddenly, as if frozen by the tablet. "That's weird."

"They shouldn't even be up and walking anyway. They're not even supposed to exist." The earth beneath their feet shook, and amazingly the skeletons held together. Ahkmenrah turned and pressed his back against that of his brother, his eye tracing the numerous fissures forming in the desert all around them. "Are you seeing this?" he asked.

"Every part of it," Kahmunrah replied.

"Please tell me you have at least some idea of why the earth is falling away beneath us."

Kahmunrah opened his mouth to say that he had none, but then he remembered something Ahkmenrah had taken quite seriously when he had spoken it. "Brother," he said, "this is a nightmare come to life."

Water sprouted from the fissures, and Ahkmenrah chewed his lip, partly wondering where all this was coming from. Then it hit him. This wasn't supposed to make sense. Just the opposite, in fact. "Kahmunrah, run." Kahmunrah turned and ran, pulling his brother along behind him.

The ground continued to shake, fracture, and flood. As if snapped out of a trance, the skeleton army roared to life and chased after them. Then, over all of the cacophony, as the desert caved away beneath their feet and the water crashed against itself as it rose to the surface, came an unearthly, deafening cry that made the blood of both Egyptians run cold.

NATM

A guard at the western gate of the enclave scanned the surrounding underworld, and then his eyes widened. Water rushed toward the enclave, and in its midst was a shape he never hoped to see. So rapt was his attention, in fact, that he almost didn't notice the two men in front of the rushing tide, and when he did, he told them, "Get in." He didn't once take his eyes off the snake in the water.

One of the men pulled him through the gate and bolted it against the water. He looked at the wall, where the water stopped completely. "Stay here," one of the visitors said to him, and he and his companion stepped back, eyes skyward.

"Now what?" the companion asked.

NATM

Ahkmenrah's eyes drifted across the wall, where the waves crashed but couldn't seem for the life of them to make any forward progress. A snake head floated over the water, and Ahkmenrah tried to make sense of the chaos floating through his mind. You are an immortal bringer of chaos, destruction, death, and disaster, and you have just been pulled from your nightly fight with the Sun God, he thought. Do you a, find your way into the upper world to end it, b, erase the existence of as many people as possible, or c, both? Best and most destructive, world-ending answer: C. "Wait for him to move," he said to his brother in English. "Then we'll follow him."

"Are you sure about this?" Kahmunrah asked.

"No, but I don't have a better idea." Kahmunrah shrugged. Ahkmenrah continued to watch the snake while careful to avoid eye contact with it. It slithered out of the water and lowered its head over the wall, drifting toward the brothers. Ahkmenrah started to focus on one of the scales on its snout. Be strong, he told himself. Be strong and have faith.

The snake exhaled. Ahkmenrah closed his eyes against the gust and waited in uncertainty for several long moments before daring to open his eyes and once more restrict his focus to one of the snake's scales. The snake shifted its head and then opened its great maw, and Ahkmenrah could have sworn he saw the end of the universe.

Kahmunrah pushed his brother aside and settled into a solid fighting stance. Ahkmenrah looked at him and then at the snake's fangs, glistening in the light. His unarmed brother was very likely dead unless he did something about it. He pulled Kahmunrah toward him, inadvertently goring him on one of the snake's bottom fangs. "Brother, I'm so sorry," he said. "I tried to save you."

Kahmunrah worked himself off of the fang of the snake and offered his brother a weak smile, and then he rolled onto the dirt, his arm wrapped around his torso. Ahkmenrah leaned over him, protectively. The snake, deeming him as good as dead, flew off. Ahkmenrah helped his brother to his feet, and they staggered off after the snake.

NATM

Brunden slept on one of the benches in the expansive room containing the Gate of Kahmunrah, thankfully sans tablet, and Larry impulsively made rounds about the place. He stopped one of these episodes to catch his breath and take in the emptiness around him. He had yet to see a single birdman since Kahmunrah worked his magic with the tablet, but then, he didn't see the gate at that moment, either, so it could be as simple as the gate opening and the birdmen walking back into the underworld. At least something would be back to normal.

McPhee staggered through the door and leaned against it, breathing heavily and donning a deer-in-headlights look. "What're you doing here?" Larry asked.

"Is it over?" McPhee replied. "Is this whole nightmare over?"

"Almost, and I promise, it's not usually this bad."

"It had better not be, or you will never work in my museum again."

"How will you honestly find someone else qualified enough to handle the tablet without wanting to steal it?" McPhee paused. "Take it you don't want another Cecil around, either." The director nodded. "That's kinda what I figured."

"So you're saying I'm stuck with you?"

"Not really. You can always hire Brunden. He's in on the secret, too, though he's probably wishing he wasn't, considering."

"Is it true this is almost over?"

"I'm pretty sure. Of course, I'm not following things in the underworld-"

"Underworld?"

"I don't know how much you found out, but we'll explain everything when we get back to New York."

"Not here?"

"There's something I think you need to see. In your own museum."

McPhee nodded. "There's something we need to take with us."

Larry helped McPhee with Ahkmenrah's sarcophagus, which they eventually found in storage, and then Larry woke Brunden and told him to keep in touch and keep his eyes on the gate, and to especially let him know if anything they didn't want to happen happened. Then McPhee and Larry loaded up the van and set off for New York.


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Kahmunrah stopped, bowed his head, and began to cough. "Brother?" Ahkmenrah asked, still supporting him.

"I'm fine," Kahmunrah managed, clearing his throat.

"Are you sure?"

"I'll be fine."

"You said you'll be fine that time." Kahmunrah looked at Ahkmenrah out of the corner of his eye. "I'm right here, Brother. I'm not leaving you, and I'll never forget you. Even if I'm the only person to do so, I'll remember your name and face. I love you, Kahmunrah, and nothing you've ever done or will ever do will change that. If ever you need someone, look to me, and I will give you a place to rest." Kahmunrah straightened and made no effort to conceal the emotion in his eyes. Ahkmenrah wrapped his arms around his brother, a gesture it took Kahmunrah a while to figure out how to return.

"Brother," he whispered. "Baby Brother, I...I am so sorry."

"It's okay, it's okay. I forgive you."

"That's a lot more than I could reasonably ask for."

Ahkmenrah pulled back and smiled. "You're my brother." He glanced over his shoulder at the snake. "Do you feel up to it?"

"As much as possible. How do you like your snake?" Ahkmenrah's grin broadened.

NATM

The brothers followed the length of the snake, and Ahkmenrah made a snide remark about being thankful for the monster's length. Kahmunrah chuckled in spite of himself, though he still kept one arm over his wound. Again, Ahkmenrah whispered a reassurance to his brother, regardless of whether he needed it or not.

The snake had wound through a door to a centrally-located building, so the brothers slipped inside through the doorway, keeping themselves low enough to not attract the snake's notice. The gods knew they had enough of that for the rest of their lives. The snake continued through hallway after hallway in an unsurprisingly chaotic fashion, though a destination was soon clear. Ahkmenrah turned to his brother and nodded. Once this gesture was confirmed, they slipped down a hall and in short order found themselves in the center of the building.

Standing in the center of the room was the familiar burn-marred face of Karahe. Kahmunrah pulled his brother behind a column, and they peered out into the atrium. Karahe was facing a floating snake head, of course attached to the miles-long body waiting outside. Karahe closed his eyes and began to chant. Ahkmenrah rushed forward and tackled Karahe to the floor. The snake reared up and shot even further into the room, though navigation and maneuvering quickly proved itself to be a very big problem.

Karahe wrestled himself free of Ahkmenrah and rolled over on top of him, pressing a freshly-conjured khopesh to his throat. "I told you this would be the last sight you ever saw if you told anyone about my secret," he said. "But you told it anyway." He shook his head. "Tisk, tisk, tisk. You impossibly naughty child."

Ahkmenrah grabbed the khopesh and rolled over, pinning the weapon next to Karahe's ear. "You weren't supposed to return," he said. "You are a disease, scum. You were to cease to exist."

"But here I am." Ahkmenrah smiled, but his moment was short-lived. Karahe threw him to the side and stood in one swift movement. Ahkmenrah struggled to stand, but with the flick of a wrist, he was pinned to the wall as bandages started to wrap themselves around his body and force his arms into position. Ahkmenrah had never been mummified alive, nor had he had the procedure attempted on him, but seeing it almost done to his brother was more than enough cause to fear.

Kahmunrah wrapped an arm around Karahe's neck and twisted as he squeezed. Ahkmenrah dropped to the floor, coughing and tossing the bandages aside. He looked from his brother, struggling with their father, to the snake, turning its head toward them. He smiled and looked at his brother again. Karahe was at work trying to free himself from Kahmunrah's grasp. His khopesh had fallen to the floor during the struggle.

Ahkmenrah dove for the weapon, and the floor started to crack, allowing golden light to shine through. His fingers wrapped securely around the handle of the khopesh, and he bit his tongue against the burn of his hand. He pulled himself to his feet and walked over to his brother, now pressed between a column and Karahe's body.

Ahkmenrah tilted his head in the direction of the snake. Kahmunrah nodded, and Ahkmenrah plunged the khopesh into Karahe's head. Kahmunrah ducked, and Ahkmenrah spent a moment shaking out his hand before turning to the snake. Karahe's dazed state made him much easier to lead to the snake's head. The snake opened its mouth, a sight neither brother thought they'd have to see twice in the same night, but they managed to throw Karahe just far enough to allow the snake to swallow him whole.

The floor crumbled away, and light engulfed the room.

NATM

Ahkmenrah gasped and instinctively tried to sit up. He settled back after making contact with the lid of his sarcophagus. Of course, he thought, working the lid open to find himself in the back of McPhee's van. A quick glance out the window revealed that he was now back in New York. For all intents and purposes, the events of the past two days had good results. He alighted from the van and walked around to the front stairway, and from there he entered the newly revitalized museum to innumerable questions from the other exhibits. Finally, after several moments, he held his hands up and said, "Enough. I will explain everything...later." This silenced everyone, and he walked down the hall into his tomb, where he found Kahmunrah, Larry, and an unconscious McPhee. "Is he okay?"

"He'll need a double shot and a cab home, but other than that, he'll be fine," Larry replied. Ahkmenrah chuckled and then looked at Kahmunrah, rubbing his abdomen. "You okay?" Ahkmenrah nodded. "They're, um, asking questions already."

"I know. I came through the front door." He paused, then added, "I'd better go set the record straight before everyone gangs up on my brother and locks him out." Larry waved to the young pharaoh and then watched him walk out of the tomb.


	18. Epilogue

Epilogue

Kahmunrah and Ahkmenrah spun toward each other and clashed, paused a moment, and pulled their weapons back. Both were breathing heavily. The crowds applauded, but they hardly heard it. They shook hands, and Ahkmenrah patted Kahmunrah on the shoulder after maneuvering the blade of his borrowed khopesh away from him. He turned to the crowd, smiled, and said, "That was how we settled disputes three thousand years ago."

"Actually, what really happened was we killed each other," Kahmunrah added. "But we're not really going to do that in front of a mixed audience, now, are we?"

"Not if we want the director after us both."

"Ah, let it happen," Jed said from the desk.

Ahkmenrah turned and replied, "We discussed this." He turned back to the crowd and said, "Please excuse him." He turned back to Jed, approached, crouched to his level, and hissed, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Jus' statin' an opinion."

"Well, do me a huge favor and can it, because it's enough that I have to deal with you trying to set yourselves on him every night."

"He's gotta pay."

"For locking you in an hourglass. Look, I know you're bitter, but I also know from experience that holding a grudge will drive you completely insane. Just look at my brother."

Jed bit his lip and studied the young pharaoh for a moment. Then he asked, "If I don' do what you want?"

"Well, I won't be responsible for the consequences."

"But watchin' Kahmunrah get pissed off is hilarious."

Ahkmenrah broke into a grin. "Yes, it is."

Jed returned his smile with a sly one of his own. "I'm gonna remember that."

Ahkmenrah nodded and turned back to the crowd. "Are there any questions?" he asked.


End file.
